AUGUSTUS SILVER DENARIUS – SPANISH ISSUE WITH CORONA CIVICA – NGC CH XF ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN OF THE 12 CAESARS (Inv. 21543)

$2,500.00

21543. ROMAN EMPIRE. AUGUSTUS, 27 BC–14 AD.
Silver Denarius, 3.83 g, 18 mm. Issue of a Spanish mint, perhaps Colonia Patricia, ca. 19-18 BC.
Obv. CAESAR AVGVSTVS, bare head of Augustus right. Rev. OB CIVIS SERVATOS, within oak wreath (corona civica).
RIC I rev 77a.
Ex European collection, acquired from Degussa in Frankfurt, October 2017.
NGC CH XF, Strike 4/5, Surface 3/5, “brushed,” lustrous, with a high relief strike on the obverse.

The reverse type, an oak crown called the “corona civica,” was an honor bestowed upon Augustus by the Senate “for saving citizens” (ob civis servatos). Originally the corona civica was a military decoration given to a soldier who saved a colleague’s life in war, but here the Senate symbolically awarded it to Augustus for protecting the lives of Roman citizens by bringing the Civil War to an end. The type became a staple of Roman imperial iconography and was used in art and coinage throughout the Julio-Claudian dynasty and beyond.